


Fact of life

by NamparaMyHome (Cormelas)



Series: Betwixt [8]
Category: Poldark (TV 2015)
Genre: (1x04), Canon Dialogue, F/M, Original dialogue; Canon-connected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 05:37:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4552707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cormelas/pseuds/NamparaMyHome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Demelza delighted at the sight of the gleam in Ross’s eyes, the fact that he suppressed an ear-to-ear grin by biting his lips, and that she was giving him such joy was exhilarating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fact of life

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by the estate of Winston Graham, various publishers including but not limited to Pan Macmillan and the BBC.
> 
> Notes: The story occurs between the scenes of the Poldark 2015 episodes as aired on the PBS US broadcasts, which are disappointingly shorter than the BBC episodes. I have not read the books, nor do I know what happens in future episodes when the B/TWS are written. My apologies for inaccuracies based on later canon.

Demelza delighted at the sight of the gleam in Ross’s eyes, the fact that he suppressed an ear-to-ear grin by biting his lips, and that she was giving him such joy was exhilarating.

“Yes, Ross?” Demelza cooed obediently, a slight blush rising in her cheeks. Ross spun over his left shoulder and lead Demelza away from her toil in the kitchen as if he were pulling her to join the dancing at a wedding party. Demelza smiled.

In a way, this was their wedding party. They had been married two days before, and came home that night to the same Nampara they had departed that morning. In Demelza’s eyes, the only change was that instead of her bunk, she now joined Ross in his bedchamber. Garrick was inconsolable at this development. Her morning chores were still calling when she rose and she worked as hard as ever. Her duty remained, in her eyes, to serve her master who was now her husband.

Ross pulled Demelza up the stairs to their refuge. When he had them safely ensconced in the bedroom with the door shut tight against the outside, he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply.

“I have been waiting for hours to be alone with you,” Ross murmured as he kissed along her neck and up to her ear. “You have made it terribly hard to concentrate on work. For that, you must pay the consequences of a husband possessed with certain wants.”

Demelza felt weak with the day’s labors taking their toll and now the warm breath of Ross practically made her swoon. She was excited and full of anticipation as she had been the night he first made love to her, the night she allowed him to console himself with her being. But now as his wife, he was positively giddy in his new-found taste for what Demelza had to offer his appetite.

“Ross, I remain yours to command. What be your wish, sir?” she played along with his dramatics.

“Oh, enough ‘sirs,’ Demelza, you are no longer a servant. You will live the rest of your days as my wife, or my widow, should I die before you.” Ross teased.

“Ye better not be dyin’ afor’ me!” Demelza chirped in mock indignation. “If anythin’ happen to you, I be left to my father’s devices.”

“Never!” declared Ross as he kissed her all over. “You are mine and what’s mine is ours - this house, Nampara, Wheal Leisure, the livestock. And with no heirs of my own, you will be mistress of Nampara even were I to meet an inhospitable end.”

“But I would not ever be looking to that!” Demelza grasped at him desperately, holding him to her tightly and jerking Ross into a sudden realization.

Ross pulled away to stare into Demelza’s eyes.

“My dear Demelza, what frightens you?” Ross saw a glimmer of distress that she was not quick enough to disguise.

“It’s nothing. Forget my words. I want to know what plans you have for me.” Demelza tried to cover her fears. She could hardly believe any of this was real. That she _was_ his wife. That he had chosen to spend his days with _her_. That they would continue night after night to sleep in each others' arms.

Ross knew there was something more to Demelza’s desperate grasp, but did not press her to explain. He carried on tenderly “I was distracted by visions of your visage in my, I beg your pardon, I mean ‘ _our_ ’ bed, stretched from head to foot with your hair spread like a sea of copper in which I would gladly swim to reach your welcoming shores.”   Ross kissed her again as he slid his hands up and down Demelza’s dress, pulling at fastenings and ties and trying his best to release his heart’s desire from her restrictive coverings.

Demelza melted at his touch and assisted him with his own garments, unbuttoning his waistcoat and untucking his shirt to reach up towards his chest, her hands needing to fan over his pectoral muscles and over his shoulders. Ross was of solid stature and Demelza was not shy in the slightest to show him how much she appreciated his strength. Their first night together she had gripped at his shoulders upon his filling of her void to declare that she was never letting go.

The newlywed lovers quickly undressed and dove into the solace of each others' wants and needs to fulfill themselves. They stripped each other of garments and boots, stockings and underclothes to stand face to face in front of the hearth aside the bed. Demelza was lithe and tall compared to other women. When she stood on tip toes, she was able to meet Ross's lips with hers with only the slightest tilt of his head. Ross wrapped an arm entirely around his wife’s slender torso and pulled her to him. He wanted to explore every inch of Demelza’s creamy skin, kissing her below each breast, sinking to his knees to kiss above her navel, around and down to her hips, and, with much warmth, the red triangle of soft red hair between her thighs.

Demelza panted and gasped and ran her fingers through the curls at the back of Ross’s neck and around to his ears and temples. She was shuddering so much at the touch of his mouth on her most intimate parts that she thought she would faint. Ross teased his lips and tongue from her hips to her mound to her thighs and back again. His hands ran up and down the backs of her slender thighs which he could feel trembling. These feelings were entirely new to Demelza, but she trusted Ross.

Their first night together had been entirely at Demelza’s choice and Ross’s direction. She may have surrendered to him completely, but he was conservative in his conquest of her innocence. On the night of their wedding, Ross was again conservative and caring, delicately taking his new wife to their four-poster bed with a tenderness and slowness that matched the solemnity of the occasion.

The previous night, Demelza had retired before Ross, who had been detained long by Captain Henshaw and Zachy Martin. When he finally returned home, he found Demelza asleep fully dressed on top of the coverlet, apparently overcome by her tiredness but not presuming that she should enter his bed without him. Ross crept into bed behind her, lifted her hair and ran his lips across the back of her neck. Demelza woke with a start, not realizing where she was or who was with her. She had not time yet to grow accustomed to being a-bed with her husband. “Judas, you give a girl such a fright!” She whimpered sleepily. Ross grinned and continued to kiss his way to her throat and chin and cheeks.   Demelza lingered half asleep while he worked at undoing her fastenings. Ross carefully helped her undress and slid her under the coverlet. He then set himself to undressing and by the time he crawled in with her, Demelza was sleeping too soundly for him to resume his amorous advances. He fell asleep embracing his wife only to wake before the morning light with his hands and lips grasping for her, who this night was a dream from long ago finally come true. She woke to his kisses and caresses and they came together under the covers of bedding and darkness.

But now there was more to Ross’s pursuits. He was focusing on giving her pleasure. When Demelza finally surrendered to the ecstasy, her knees buckled and she let out a cry of delight. Ross scooped her up in his arms and moved her to the bed. He placed her gently on the side with her long legs dangling, her feet nearly touching the floor. He dropped to one knee and put his hands on either side of her seated bottom. He inhaled deeply with anticipation, gave a lustful glance upwards to meet Demelza’s eyes, and then bowed his head to entreat to her lower lips and folds. Demelza’s chest lurched forward while her thighs twitched. Ross gently grasped her upper thighs while his tongue traced patterns in and out of her delicate skin and tight red curls. He brushed with his nose at her inner thigh, causing Demelza to suck air lightly through her teeth and reach for Ross’s hands. He continued to paint her folds with his lips, dart his tongue in and out and exhale his hot breath between her legs.

Demelza threw her head back and her chest began to heave with gasps as she neared the brink of explosion. She finally could endure it no longer. “Ross, Please!”

Ross jerked back. His heart skipped a beat as he feared that he had hurt Demelza or that she was not enjoying his attentions. He had been enjoying his efforts immensely and was scared by her cry. He looked up expecting to see fear or loathing in her eyes. But what he saw was a spark, that spark of life he had seen in her years before. The spark turned to a blaze as Demelza realized he had misunderstood her exclamation.

“Please, be inside of me,” she pleaded. The look in her eyes was unmistakable. She was as in need of him as he had been of her. Without realizing he had been holding his breath, Ross let out a relieved exhale that was part laugh and part amazement. He smiled wide as he was reassured by his wife’s desire for him.   He drew Demelza’s hand to his lips and kissed it. He then crawled onto the bed past her, his naked form almost panther-like as he sauntered to the head of the bed on his hands and knees. Demelza turned to watch. Upon reaching the headboard, he turned over and propped himself up slightly, placing his hands behind his head. “As you wish, my dear wife.” Ross was daring her to come to him to take what she was wanting.

Demelza pulled her legs onto the bed beneath her and followed his path, crawling towards her husband, who waited in erect attention for her arrival. Demelza had not seen Ross’s naked form this close and stared at his full length unabashedly. Ross saw where her eyes had fixated and it made him smile anew. He pumped his shaft to impress his yearning upon her. Her eyes opened wider as she realized he was controlling this action. Demelza approached his side and traced her hand over his chest and down to his chiseled stomach. She was not yet brave enough to actually touch his virile member, but climbed onto his torso with bent knees, straddling his lower abdomen. Ross assisted his timid wife; she was, after all, inexperienced with the various wiles of lovemaking, and guided her by her hips onto his throbbing shaft.  

Demelza’s spine curved downward as she melted from the inside at the feeling of Ross filling her. She was whole. She was complete. But this was just the beginning. Ross cupped her right breast and gently pulled her towards his mouth. Demelza rose on his length as he kissed and tickled her breast. He then used his right hand to gently push Demelza back to engulf him again. And then he repeated the action – first a gentle pull towards him, then a gentle push back down, rewarding each rise with attention to her breast and each fall with the melting feeling of being filled anew.

Demelza quickly established her own rhythm of rising and falling, panting and gasping, twitching and rocking. Ross marveled at the sight Demelza was giving him, making him harder with each plunge and giving him more pleasure by just watching her reactions. Demelza’s left hand reached to interlace her fingers with his, while her right was steadying herself against the headboard.   Her toes curled, her thighs tingled from their contact with Ross’s hips, and her hair fell wildly around her.

Finally it was his turn to plead. "Lean back, Demelza.” She complied. Ross arched higher into her pelvis and pumped to match her stroking. Demelza chirped in delight as Ross let go a burst of exquisite release.   She swooped down to kiss his cheeks, his sweat-touched brow and his neck as Ross gasped for air. She could feel his shaft twitching inside of her, her folds engulfing the base of his length, and her bottom firmly clutched in Ross’s left hand.

Demelza dropped her ear to his chest, listening to Ross’s throbbing heart. It was a sound she wanted to hear for eternity. Ross reached up and caressed her hair, stroking the back of her head. She maneuvered her way off of him while keeping her head on his chest. Ross pulled the bed sheet up around them both as Demelza lay on her back, her head squarely on his sternum. He continued to stroke her hair with his right hand as he ran his other hand's fingers through his own mess of a mop atop his head.

They were quiet for a time. Ross tended to be quiet in many things, but after reaching the peak of lovemaking, he fell into a dream-like state. This night he was thinking about how much he wanted to make Demelza happy because she wanted him, not just to please him, but _wanted_ him.

Demelza broke the silence.

“Folks will wonder, they won’t understand. I don’t rightly understand.”

“What?” Ross asked lazily.

“How it came to happen. This! We!” Demelza exclaimed with more than mild excitement in her voice.

“You don’t have to understand it. You just have to accept it as a fact of life.” Ross was serious and solemn and absolute in his statement. This was life and their being married was a fact. No need for any further endeavor to rationalize it. Ross’s word was final.

“So it’s not to be a secret then?” Demelza probed, wondering how this could be true.

“Why should it?” Ross queried back.

Demelza could think of a thousand and one reasons - his family, her family, Jud and Prudie, the entire town, the scandal it would cause, the hardship, their livelihood, and on and on. But none of those reasons were a real answer to his question, itself a statement rather than a solicitation of an answer.

Demelza sheepishly replied, “I just thought you wanted me not to leave. Not that we would really be Captain and Mrs. Ross Poldark of Nampara. That’s not my place.” She looked away from his face. She didn’t want him to see the look of shame she had at her presumptiveness of using the words “Mrs. Ross Poldark.” She didn’t want to be met with the look he had given her when he told her he would send her back to her father for daring to wear his mother’s gown.

“I told you before. Your place is where I say it is.” Ross drew Demelza’s eyes up by cupping her chin between his thumb and forefinger and turning her face to his.   “I said it was your choice to no longer be my servant, so your place is now is beside me as my wife. That is no longer up for negotiation. You are Mrs. Ross Poldark.”

Demelza looked at the face she had seen a thousand times and could recreate in her mind down to the last whisker on his cheek. She looked into his eyes for any hint of regret or denial. What she saw looked more like the flash of resolve he had before he closed his eyes and kissed her that first time. The resolution that all else be damned - this is happening right now. Demelza sighed “Then you will tell your family?”

Ross nodded.

“I will tell Francis and he can spread the news.” Ross sealed his word with a kiss to the top of Demelza’s head.

Mrs. Ross Poldark settled in to her husband’s embrace. And that fact of life settled in to her heart.


End file.
